assange

ACTION: URGE NGOS TO TAKE A PUBLIC, FORMAL STAND ON WIKILEAKS AND ASSANGE

Reasoning for this action: NGOs are caught in a tension. They are faced with pressures of, on the one hand, the public and their memberships’ expectations that they will take a position on a given issue that matters to the public and the membership; and on the other hand, their funding sources.

pee pee...

Just as MI6 super spy James Bond is back in theatres with No Time to Die, former MI6 agent Christopher Steele is back in the spotlight with the story that refuses to die, in an ABC ‘documentary’ titled Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier, now streaming on Hulu. 

printing

What’s happening to inflation? We know, of course, what the current numbers say: Inflation is high right now, although not 1970s high. But is this a blip or the beginning of a longer-term problem? Economists are deeply divided. I’m basically for the former, on what has come to be known as Team Transitory, but I might be wrong — and the data are sufficiently ambiguous that both sides can claim that the evidence supports their take.

By Paul Krugman

powell

Colin Powell, Who Shaped U.S. National Security, Dies at 84

A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretary of state and national security adviser, Mr. Powell died of complications of Covid-19, his family said.

Colin L. Powell, who in four decades of public life served as the nation’s top soldier, diplomat and national security adviser, and whose speech at the United Nations in 2003 helped pave the way for the United States to go to war in Iraq, died on Monday. He was 84.

The cause was complications of Covid-19, his family said in a statement, adding that he had been vaccinated and was being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., when he died there.

flag

From time to time (all the time) we should explore various points of view. Today we look at Jeffrey A. Tucker — the Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute and the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and ten books in 5 languages, most recently Liberty or Lockdown. Tucker is also the editor of The Best of Mises. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.

trick

President Emmanuel Macron of the French Republic and President Joe Biden of the United States of America spoke on September 22, at the request of the latter, in order to discuss the implications of the announcement on September 15. The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners. President Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard.

real map

Josep Borrell wrote in his blog that EU's energy dependence was one of the key issues in relations with Russia.

"Russia is meeting its contractual obligations but does not deliver extra volumes to the EU, which led to the price increase, Borrell said. "Our energy dependency is one of the key issues in our relations with Russia. Russia is meeting its contractual obligations on gas deliveries, but is not putting additional gas into the European system as it could do, hence contributing to drive prices upward," he noted.

He lamented that in the past, EU states did not always show a unified approach in relations with the Russian Federation.

coffee

More Than Just a Coffee Shop: Ex-CIA Agent Says Spies Use Starbucks to Meet Handlers... 

In her book, the former recounts her eight years at the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) and reveals some interesting details. 

Spies use Starbucks coffee shops to meet their handlers, ex-CIA agent Amaryllis Fox writes in her book "Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA." 

Fox explains how such rendezvous were set up:

joyce

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is insisting the Nationals will not be bullied into backing a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, as he also ruled out supporting more ambitious short-term climate targets.

peter

Pyotr Velikiy (Russian: Пётр Великий) is the fourth Kirov-class battlecruiser of the Russian Navy.

screaming

Say what you like about Matt Canavan. At least he’s consistent.

That is, unlike his boss, the Prime Minister, News Corporation, and the Business Council of Australia.

We should be grateful they have finally seen the light, but it’s hard not to go into the back yard and shout at the Moon over their destructive, cynical, stupid, decades of intransigence.

The question now is whether the sudden enthusiasm for deep emission cuts from the Murdoch newspapers and the BCA will give Scott Morrison enough cover to come up with a proper climate change policy, as opposed to a non-policy.

grumble

The federal opposition likes to deride Scott Morrison as the Prime Minister for New South Wales.

But with a new leader in that state it's increasing clear that it's not the opposition causing him headaches but a man fast earning a reputation as the Premier of Australia, Dominic Perrottet.

Perrottet's decision to throw open the international border was done in a way that left Morrison on the political back foot and his office scrambling to catch up.

It brings with it a fundamental change to Australia's response to the deadly global pandemic. 

And in doing so, the NSW Premier managed to sideline a Prime Minister who's spent the last 18 months eager to announce any major change to Australia's handling of COVID-19.

queen

London: The Queen has been caught on camera expressing annoyance with “irritating” world leaders who won’t attend next month’s crunch climate summit in Glasgow.

The 95-year-old monarch, who has studiously avoided wading into contentious political matters during her reign, shared the unguarded views about COP26 during a conversation with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Welsh politician Elin Jones.

Video and audio of the exchange shows the Queen revealing her displeasure that some world leaders are yet to confirm their attendance at the Glasgow talks scheduled to begin on November 1. The Queen’s spray will feature on the front page of most British newspapers on Friday.

Read more:

missiles

The United States unilaterally pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019 after accusing Moscow of breaching its terms. Moscow dismissed the allegations, and took the unprecedented step of declassifying the characteristics of the alleged Russian ‘INF-violating missile’. The US pulled out of the agreement anyway.

Russia should remove missiles which violate the terms of the INF Treaty from Europe, US special envoy for nuclear nonproliferation Jeffrey Eberhardt has said.

tshirt

The Australian government's entire vaccine supply agreement with AstraZeneca is being withheld from the public on the grounds that it would pose a "real and substantial risk" to national security if it were released.